Delayed Rays Of A Star: A Novel

"Berlin, 1928: Anna May Wong, Marlene Dietrich and Leni Riefenstahl – three pioneering women in show biz – pose for a photograph together at a party. From this frozen moment, Amanda Lee Koe spins a glittering and ambitious debut that encompasses eight decades, with characters as far removed as a sex-trafficked Chinese woman in Paris and a gay German mourning his lover who died in battle. Blending questions about pop culture, war and art, Delayed Rays of a Star is neither high nor lowbrow, refusing such facile dichotomies and playing, instead, in the messiness of the gray areas."